beautiful beaches of mauritius - best place to travel and living with lifestyles
Sunday, September 6, 2015
too lazy to go for morning walk here is healthcare supplements
If you are too lazy to wake up for your morning walk, results of a new study may cheer you up.Researchers have found that taking Vitamin C supplements daily can have similar cardiovascular benefits as regular exercise in overweight and obese adults.
The blood vessels of overweight and obese adults have elevated activity of the small vessel-constricting protein called endothelin (ET)-1.
Because of the high ET-1 activity, these vessels are more prone to constricting, becoming less responsive to blood flow demand and increasing risk of developing vascular disease.
Exercise has been shown to reduce ET-1 activity but incorporating an exercise regimen into a daily routine can be challenging.
This study, conducted at University of Colorado, Boulder in the US, examined whether vitamin C supplements, which have been reported to improve vessel function, can also lower ET-1 activity.
The researchers found that daily supplementation of Vitamin C (500 mg/day) reduced ET-1-related vessel constriction as much as walking for exercise did.
Vitamin C supplementation represents an effective lifestyle strategy for reducing ET-1-mediated vessel constriction in overweight and obese adults, the researchers wrote.
The findings were presented at the 14th International Conference on Endothelin: Physiology, Pathophysiology and Therapeutics in Savannah, Georgia, US.
Saturday, May 9, 2015
CO2 concentrations surpass 400 PPM worldwide in atmosphere
According to the federal agency, it measured and compiled data from about 40 sites around the globe.
In a statement in March, Pieter Tans, lead scientist of NOAA's Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network, said that the agency first reported 400 part per million when all of Arctic locations reached that figure in the spring of 2012. According to Tans, reaching the level of 400 parts per million as a worldwide average is a significant milestone.
Tans said, "This marks the fact that humans burning fossil fuels have caused global carbon dioxide concentrations to rise more than 120 parts per million since pre-industrial times. Half of that rise has occurred since 1980".
As per the reports, the implications of these facts are sobering. Even if world succeeds in stabilizing the rate of carbon emissions, it will not help in preventing climate change. According to the NOAA, by summers of 2040, the Arctic will be ice-free-a fact.
Dr. Ed Hawkins, climate scientist from the University of Reading, said that new figures on the concentrations of the carbon dioxide are surprising. The last time the planet had that much carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere was over a million years ago. That time, modern humans had not even evolved yet, Hawkins added.
The federal agency and some of its partner agencies consider the new measurements to help policymakers and the scientific community. The 40 global sites that were selected by the agency for sampling are in remote areas.
Monday, April 13, 2015
A new smartphone app promises to make you slimmer
Actually, the new "Visualize You" app is designed to encourage weight loss by processing your portrait-style photograph and generating an image of what you would look like minus 10 kg... or may be more.
The designers said the app uses proprietary algorithms based on "clinically verified weight change dynamics" to generate the image, reported Daily Mail.
As opposed to similar apps that basically stretch and pinch photos, Visualize You creates images determined by the precise amount of weight you hope to shed.
It is simple to use this app: Take a portrait-style picture of yourself, or grab one from your photo library, and drop it into the app along with your height, weight and desired target weight.
The app crunches the numbers and pops out an image of a slimmer you.
You can also set the app to go the other way, generating an image based on a heavier target weight. A series of exercise and diet guides is also included.
Visualize You is an attempt at sparking motivation via technology, according to the developers.
The company behind the app, Visual Health Solutions, developed the app in partnership with Cleveland Clinic and the University of Colorado.
The app is not free though. It costs two dollars and is available for both iOS and Android platforms.
Snake venom could provide answers for the treatment of AIDS
Research by doctors at the Hyderabad-based JSPS Government Homeopathic Medical College, and Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Hyderabad, on deriving a homeopathic medicine from snake venom, Crotalus Horridus, has shown that it can arrest the multiplication of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Professor Dr Praveen Kumar, head of the department of practice of medicine at JSPS College, said, "Scientifically speaking, Crotalus Horridus has inhibited reverse transcriptase or RT, an enzyme which is utilized by viruses like HIV and Hepatitis-B to convert the viral RNA into viral DNA, so that they multiply into billions and wreck patients."
"Our experiment entails that the homeopathic drug has the capacity to act on HIV, Hepatitis-B and so on. Our work has certainly opened the floodgates of advanced research and clinical testing," he said.
"For years, homeopathy has been adapting the process of converting snake venom and poison from deadly scorpions, spiders and wild bees into medicinal substances by transforming them into nano-particles that have proved safe and effective for patients," Dr Rajesh Shah, organizing secretary, Global Homeopathy Foundation said.
"As a virologist, I was surprised to learn that homeopathy also sources medicines from virus, bacteria and parasites, long before microbiology was fully developed," said Dr Abhay Chaudhary, director of Haffkine Institute, which also manufactures polio vaccines in India.
The Central Council for Research in Homeopathy (CCRH), a premium government body under AYUSH and GHF, has organized the summit. "The summit should bring about a paradigm shift in the way the world looks at homeopathy and shock even some practicing homeopaths who believed that the medicines had some undetectable and unseen energy effect and acted as placebos," said Dr Rajesh Shah, organizing secretary, GHF.
-DNA
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Three glasses of milk a day to beat dementia
The study conducted at the University of Kansas Medical Center found a correlation between milk consumption and the levels of a naturally-occurring antioxidant called glutathione in the brain in older, healthy adults.
“We have long thought of milk as being very important for your bones and very important for your muscles. This study suggests that it could be important for your brain as well,” said Debra Sullivan, professor and chair of dietetics and nutrition.
Sullivan and In-Young Choi, an associate professor of neurology, asked the 60 participants in the study about their diets in the days leading up to brain scans, which they used to monitor levels of glutathione – a powerful antioxidant – in the brain.
The researchers found that participants who had indicated they had drunk milk recently had higher levels of glutathione in their brains.
This is important, the researchers said, because glutathione could help stave off oxidative stress and the resulting damage caused by reactive chemical compounds produced during the normal metabolic process in the brain.
Oxidative stress is known to be associated with a number of different diseases and conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and many other conditions, said Choi.
A randomised, controlled trial that seeks to determine the precise effect of milk consumption on the brain is still needed and is a logical next step to this study, the researchers said.
The research was published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
parents smoking increases children risk of heart disease
Children exposed to smoke caused by their parents might be inhaling more than just passive smoke. These kids are highly exposed to developing heart disease when they grow as an adult. While those with non-smoking parents, have lower risks.
The researchers used similar participants with the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. Participants have experienced smoke exposure from their parents during 1980 and 1983. More than 20 years after (2001 and 2007), the participants were called for carotid ultrasound.
In 2014, blood samples of the participants were tested for cotinine levels. The blood was frozen samples obtained in 1980. Cotinine is the compound most present in people exposed to passive smoking.
Results showed that 84% of children with neither parents smoking showed highest non-detectable cotinine levels. As for those with one parent smoking, 62% of the children have none-detectable cotinine levels. And lowest percentage (43%) was found among households with both parents smoking.
They were able to detect other issues like risk of developing carotid plaque as an adult greater with one or two parents smoking. This problem is 1.7 times higher to the children as compared to those who weren’t.
Some parents limit their children’s exposure, but still resulted to 1.6 times higher risk. And four times higher to those whose parents do not limit the kids’ exposure to their habit.
Costan Magnussen, Ph.D., the lead researcher from Menzies Institute for Medical Research in University of Tasmania, Australia, said that there was really no direct proof that the exposure to passive smoke came from the children’s parents. But one thing is for sure, their primary exposure occurs in their very home.
The advice researchers gave to parents is to stop their smoking habit. This could benefit their kids’ long-term cardiovascular health. Parents who are trying to quit smoking are already reducing their children’s risk and potential long-term cardiovascular problem.
Magnussen said that, “Not smoking at all is by far the safest option.”
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